FBI Identifies 1 Million Botnet Victims

The FBI announced last Wednesday that more than 1 million computers, most of which are in the United States, have been infiltrated by malicious software and made part of a so-called botnet of zombie PCs. These infected PCs are then remotely controlled to distribute malware to other users, steal personal information, and perform other dubious activities.

Although the FBI can't find every infected PC or contact all the owners of these computers, it has identified and contacted some users and made several high-profile arrests in recent weeks. Sadly, this activity has led the FBI to warn users that hackers might seek to infiltrate more PCs by sending malicious email messages that pretend to be from the FBI.

"Bad guys will continue to use whatever tools are available on the vulnerable, on people who are unaware or unsuspecting," said FBI assistant deputy director Shawn Henry. "There will likely be spam sent on the heels of this case," from people masquerading as the FBI, he added.

During a sting code-named Operation Bot Roast, the FBI arrested several high-profile hackers and spammers, including Robert Soloway, the so-called "spam king." An infamous mass spammer, Soloway continued to send spam even after he lost a $7 million court case against Microsoft two years ago. Other arrested spammers include James Brewer, who is charged with infecting more than 10,000 PCs around the world, and Jason Downey, who flooded botnet computers with spam for 11 weeks in 2004 and caused as much as $20,000 in damages.

The FBI says that cooperation with international law enforcement was key in making Operation Bot Roast successful. The agency worked with law enforcement officials in 60 countries around the world.

The real problem, as I see it, is that the vast majority of computer users are morons. Us technical-oriented people have done a really bad job of making the average joe care about having basic knowledge of how his computer works.
I see it as similar to cars: even if you're not into cars and you've never rebuilt an engine you should still have some basic knowledge about how they work. You should know what a carburetor is. What a differential does. What a distributor is. How to check your oil and radiator fluid. Likewise, in 2007, you should know some fundamentals about computers - and most people don't. Most people don't even know what makes RAM different from a Hard Drive.

"i will conclude by saying that even the FBI thinks that non-American computer users are smarter computer users."
I will conclude by saying that even the FBI thinks that non-American computer users can't figure out how to turn computers on.

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) late last week said that over 1 million computers ... the FBI has no way to find every infected PC, or contact all of the owners of these computers"
They could start by looking for this identification symbol:
http://tinyurl.com/2xx3uf

"even if you're not into cars and you've never rebuilt an engine you should still have some basic knowledge about how they work"
i get customers like that too.
there's still a lot of people that tell me they "don't even know how to turn a computer on". i'd like to say something like: "what's it like skipping a whole century to get to the 21st?", or "is this your first journey outside the sanctity of the Hamish community?"....i don't, but it is tempting sometimes.
(maybe electronics just isn't their thing)
"Most people don't even know what makes RAM different from a Hard Drive."
i still get people calling the computer the "hard drive".
XP